Irish Republican News · December 12, 2003

Fermanagh pensioner escapes injury after bomb attack

The home of the 92-year-old mother of a former senior Ulster Unionist was bombed in an attack that has been blamed on republican dissidents.

Gladys Patterson was asleep when a device exploded in the living room of her house in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

Her daughter, is a former Assembly member for the Ulster Unionist Party.

Sinn Féin Fermanagh South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew has said that the bomb attack was ``totally reprehensible''.

``It could have resulted the death of a 92-year woman asleep in her home,'' she said.

``For the past decade republicans have been at the heart of the search for a just and lasting peace. Those responsible for this attack clearly want to undermine the peace process. There actions play into the hands of rejectionists.''

Ms Gildernew said those reponsible would ``not stop progress'' or undermine the peace process.

``We are on the path to securing the peace and stability that underpins the transition towards Irish unity. There are those who want to roll back this progress and return us back to the days of conflict and unionist domination and misrule. They cannot be allowed to succeed.''

Other politicians have condemned the attack as ``evil''.

Ulster Unionist Fermanagh and South Tyrone Assembly member Tom Elliot said: ``All right-thinking people will be appalled by this evil attack on an elderly woman. It is a mercy she had escaped without serious injury.''

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